Always
by Liebling
Summary: "I know it is! You can't keep the demons away from me Jus!" She said angrily, pointing a pale finger at him. "I can try." ((Hannah Abbott/Justin Finch-Fletchley)) Pure fluff.


~*~  
  
It is said by the gods' that there is no truer love than Hufflepuff love. This statement is not a false one, for it is proven true by the shared love of Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hannah Abbott.  
  
She was a young little girl when they met upon that licorice red transportation vessel. That-train. Her blond hair up in pigtails and tied with emerald ribbons her cheeks used to always be so red. As though she had just finished running or breathing very deeply.  
  
The petite girl was crying that day. She didn't want to go to Hogwarts. And she most certainly didn't want to leave Mummy and Daddy. She cried into the crook of her elbow and her clear blue eyes began to water. It wouldn't stop. The girl was sitting in her own compartment, although she wished that her older brother, Josh Abbott would be there to squeeze her hand and say: "Aww. It's okay." He was a seventh year.  
  
Then, a tall, lengthy boy with curly, licorice black messy hair knocked upon the glass door.  
  
"Oh," he said, "are you busy then?"  
  
She shook her head as if to say: "No," and got gingerly up to open the compartment.  
  
"Thanks," he said, "everywhere else is full."  
  
"I bet," she sniffled.  
  
He sat opposite her on the crimson, squishy seats sat on by so many of Hogwarts' best alumni.  
  
Her hands covered her face and tears could be seen forming on her crisp, white blouse.  
  
"Here," he said leaning over and pulling her hands off her face.  
  
She slowly pulled down her hand allowing him to see the big tear droplets.  
  
"Ah," the boy said giving her a look with his inquisitive sapphire eyes, "why are you crying?"  
  
Hannah turned her face away from his glare and spoke harshly: "Listen, it isn't any big deal!"  
  
Justin chuckled slightly and tried to stifle the noise with his palm, "You're certainly making it out to be a big deal."  
  
It was as though she hated this boy already! He was so.....nosy!  
  
"Homesick, aye?" he questioned.  
  
"Maybe," she said still sniffling slightly.  
  
"If by maybe you mean yes then you're undeniably correct," the young boy said cleverly.  
  
"Get your own compartment, don't kick a dog that's already on the ground and squirming for air!" she said savagely.  
  
"Temper, temper," the boy grinned.  
  
And then, she broke down. She began sobbing helplessly into his chest as he patted her back affectionately.  
  
"Um," he said in a confused manner, "alright then."  
  
Realizing that she was crying into some guy's chest that she hardly knew she backed away and sat back in her seat.  
  
"So, what's your name?"  
  
"Justin," he said, "and yours?"  
  
"Hannah," the girl said wiping away one last tear, "but everyone calls me Em."  
  
"Why Em?" the boy asked, for he was always inquisitive.  
  
"Because it's my middle name, you see," the girl grinned.  
  
"Oh," he said.  
  
Even though she didn't have her family by her side (except for her upper class, popular brother) the girl realized that she would make friends. Real friends. And it all started that fine day on the Hogwarts express.  
  
He chuckled at her toothy grin and she knew, just then, that it would be the start of an amazing friendship  
  
~*~  
  
Hogwarts was unprepared for the arrival of two of the best minds that it had ever seen. Hannah and Justin.  
  
They went together, like quill and parchment. Like strawberries and cream.  
  
The two were, much to no one's surprise, sorted into Hufflepuff.  
  
"Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted happily as the yellowed table began to cheer incessantly.  
  
Seven years that were to follow the sorting were some of the best years in her life, as well as his.  
  
~*~  
  
"Jus," she said using her nickname for him, "do you think Harry Potter opened the Chamber of Secrets?"  
  
The boy glanced over his Potions' homework and looked his small friend in the eyes. "No, Em, I don't."  
  
"You don't?" she said, obviously amazed.  
  
"No, I don't."  
  
"But I mean, look at him, the kid's can obviously speak to snakes, he's smart enough, could be Slytherin's heir, it' d be all too easy for him," she reasoned.  
  
"Em," the tall boy said shuffling his feet underneath the oaken table. "Trust me. Harry Potter didn't do it."  
  
"Then why," Hannah asked, "do you always pretend to think he did it when we are in front of everyone else?"  
  
Obviously he was speechless. "I don't want them to not like me or think I'm suspicious or anything," he said hastily.  
  
"Oh, Jus, don't be stupid! You're no more suited for being the heir of Slytherin than I am for being in Gryffindor!"  
  
He chuckled and put an arm around his best friend. "Really, then."  
  
"Really."  
  
"And Em?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"You'll tell them I ain't the heir, won't you?"  
  
The blond reddened slightly and said, "'course I will Jus."  
  
~*~  
  
The rain was pounding against the glassy windows of the Hufflepuff commons.  
  
A small figure want sitting on a cherry oak chair and writing a composition. Something about spores. It was late, near eleven and she wasn't even halfway finished. Some shady figure began transcending down the twisted staircase.  
  
Looking up just slightly from her work she recognized the figure. Justin. No doubt worrying about why she wasn't sleeping already.  
  
"Jus," she said sleepily, "I'm fine. Go back to bed."  
  
"Nah, not today, doll, not today." he said.  
  
"You need to," she pressed, "and I need to work."  
  
"Oh, come off it already. Come up to bed. Its late."  
  
"I didn't know," she replied caustically.  
  
"Temper, temper," he said pacing about the emptied common room. He came over towards her, picked up the still-wet-with-ink composition and threw it into the wastebasket.  
  
"Jus!" she yelled running over to him, her eyes facing his.  
  
"Yes, Em?" he said innocently.  
  
"May I bloody remind you that you just threw away the one thing that matters most to me!"  
  
"That isn't true," he proclaimed, "I didn't throw away myself. We all know that I'm most important to you."  
  
She scoffed and walked over to the wastebasket. "You're absolutely barmy. Ugh!"  
  
He followed her around the common room, half in parade, "Aw, Em-love, I'm sorry." He summoned her up into a tight hug and she savagely pushed him away.  
  
"JusTIN!"  
  
"Oh get off it, c'mon, come to bed-its late, and you're tired-"  
  
"So?" she asked picking her paper out of the waste bin.  
  
"I worry about you," he confessed, "down here alone."  
  
"Over my dead body."  
  
Of course he worried about her. Perhaps Monsters would overtake her soul? Or maybe Sprout would come in and start yelling at her about curfew? Or maybe the Bloody Barron would come in here? Ugh. The worries of having a near little sister running '-loose-' around the magical school.  
  
~*~  
  
He heard crying coming out of the girls' dormitory and sleepily pulled on his navy blue robe. Padding across the corridor that separated the boys' and girls' dormitory he finally came to a wooden door. He said a quick spell as the door creakily opened  
  
Walking in slightly he passed Susan Bones and then came across a figure bathed in the moonlight. Second from the door.  
  
There lay Hannah Abbott. Her blond hair all over her purple pillow, no longer in pigtails but free from the ribbons. She was in her threadbare yellow nightgown with lace around the collar. Just fifteen. And true to Hufflepuff form, just as innocent as a first year. But she was not quiet no her eyes shone tears. Silent crying.  
  
He shook her gently awake. "Em," he said through the darkness.  
  
"Yeah, Jus?" she asked sleepily.  
  
"You okay? You were crying, you know-"  
  
"Oh," she said as if she were confused.  
  
"What's up?" he asked, sitting next to her upon the squishy bed.  
  
"Just sad, I suppose," was the simple remark.  
  
"Sad?" he questioned furrowing his dark brow.  
  
"Yeah, just thinking, musing, you know."  
  
"Ah. Look, little girl, you really ought to be sleeping," he said pulling the yellow covers up all around her.  
  
"I know," she dismissed as she rested her eyes.  
  
"And, for the record, what were you thinking about?" He asked the half- asleep girl.  
  
"About you," she muttered.  
  
And then, her eyes fluttered back to sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
She forgot about what was said that night. He never forgot, for he had a keen memory.  
  
"Look, Jus, you look absolutely dreadful. What'd I say in my sleep?"  
  
"That you were crying about me," he said in an entirely confused way.  
  
And then, it all came back to her. He was rubbing her back, tucked the covers around her. Oh no. And she had told him.  
  
Told him what was in her mind ever since the ride on the Hogwarts express.  
  
She shook her head and turned the colour of an over ripe tomato. "Look Justin," she said over a breakfast of oatmeal and danish.  
  
"Look where?" he asked.  
  
"Don't be daft," she hissed.  
  
"Oh oh!"  
  
"I think," she said and then paused, "I think I love you."  
  
"Yeah, the 'think' part is really comforting," he laughed.  
  
"No, Justin. I love you. I -know-I love you." She said kissing his cheek affectionately.  
  
"I love you too," he said a goofy grin showering his face.  
  
The whole hall turned the face them.  
  
Hannah stepped atop the wooden bench and looked out upon her peers.  
  
"It'll be this way for a while," the Hufflepuff smirked, "Justin and I are officially-" she took a poignant pause "-more than just friends."  
  
The crowd burst into cheers and she grabbed Justin's hand and they ran out of the hall together.  
  
"We're going to-" she began  
  
"Snog?" he asked.  
  
"Exactly."  
  
~*~  
  
They were just so happy. Happy in a way that many wished they could have duplicated just what Justin and Hannah had. Love. True love. Not young love. Not risqué love. Just pure, true, unadulterated love.  
  
It all started that fine day in their sixth year. When asked about Justin the girl would simply reply:  
  
"We are still friends, aren't we? Now we are just more than friends. We are 'better' friends."  
  
They'd only chuckle. They never knew.  
  
Holding hands, skipping past Snape in an entirely lovely way, sharing spoonfuls of oatmeal, squabbling in the library, studying in the common room. It was safe to say they did it all.  
  
~*~  
  
"This is everything," she breathed, "I would have wanted it to be."  
  
"Is it, then?" he grinned.  
  
"That it is, Jus," she giggled. "You know, you are my always Justin."  
  
"My always as well," he said sealing the deal with a chaste kiss.  
  
After the kiss she took a small sip of hot cocoa, still in his arms. "Jus," she began pointedly, "will I always be your little girl?"  
  
"Always and a day."  
  
~*~  
  
It was only natural that the two sweetest people in all of the world would get together. Eventually. They were both stubborn people, despite it all however.  
  
He yelled. She yelled louder. She stomped. He stomped harder.  
  
"Do you always have to go studying in the library with Susan Bones?" she asked her face one of fury.  
  
"I don't -always- go with Susan!"  
  
"Most of the time."  
  
"You're just jealous," he conceded, "admit it."  
  
"I am not jealous," she said stubbornly, "Good Hufflepuff's are never jealous."  
  
"Will you be my good little Hufflepuff?" he asked.  
  
~*~  
  
One of the biggest fights that Hogwarts had ever seen had been that between Justin and Hannah. It had started that day in the library. Where most of their fights started. He had been being stupid, in her eyes.  
  
He had been being over-protective, and pitiful and finally she snapped.  
  
"Justin Aries Finch-Fletchley!" she yelled stomping on the carpet "I have to go help Filch tonight in the Forbidden Forest, I'll be fine. I swear! Over my uh-" she began earning a disapproving look from the "Maid of the library."  
  
"I swear on my life, Jus!"  
  
"It's scary out there, Em."  
  
"I know it is! You can't keep the demons away from me Jus!" She said angrily, pointing a pale finger at him.  
  
"I can try."  
  
~*~  
  
"Sometimes I wonder about you," she said lounging happily in his lap.  
  
"Sometimes I wonder as well," he agreed.  
  
"Sometimes I wonder about you and I though," Hannah said.  
  
"Sometimes I wonder as well," the boy said looking down upon the girl in pigtails.  
  
"Like, what if we grow up and we don't get married? And I spend my whole life just wishing for you to come back, and I get married to some other guy and we have children and it just isn't the same! What if you come upon some other girl, Jus? What if that happens? And what if our friendship goes to wreckage and the world comes crashing down and-"  
  
"And what if it doesn't happen like that?" he interjected.  
  
"What if you find someone prettier than me?" she asked apprehensively.  
  
"There's no one prettier than you," he said leaning against the couch.  
  
"Are you sure, then?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"What about Fleur?"  
  
"Well, I'm not sure-" he laughed.  
  
She hit him on the arm.  
  
"Ow! What was that for?"  
  
"For even thinking someone could be prettier than me!" Hannah grinned.  
  
"You are something else, you know. And I wouldn't have it any other way." He said, giving her a kiss on her chapped pale pink lips. Sealing it, for the end of time. Till the mountains crashed into the ocean.  
  
~*~  
  
La Fin 


End file.
